Sweden's Princess Madeleine, the youngest child of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia, is engaged to marry her boyfriend, the Swedish royal palace said yesterday.

"Today, Tuesday 11 August 2009, the engagement between Her Royal Highness Princess Madeleine and Mr Jonas Bergstroem was announced," the palace said in a short statement.

The palace announced the nuptials after the king received approval from the Swedish government, according to procedures set out in the constitution.

No date has yet been set for the wedding between 27-year-old Princess Madeleine and 30-year-old Bergstroem, a Stockholm-based lawyer. The couple have been an item for seven years.

Sweden's royal family are massively popular in the Scandinavian country and the news immediately received wide coverage from the Swedish press.

Madeleine's classic good looks have long made her a favorite of the European paparazzi - the blue-eyed, blonde-haired princess is a regular feature on the pages of society and gossip magazines.

In 2006, she graduated from the University of Stockholm with a degree in History of Art.

That same year, the young princess interned at UNICEF's headquarters in New York before embarking upon a masters degree in Organization and Leadership back at the University of Stockholm.